UPDATE: Early Prisoner Release Scandal

March 10, 2016

The Senate investigation into the Department of Corrections’ early release of prisoners scandal continues. We held our third investigatory hearing in which every witness testified to inaccuracies, omissions, or contextual problems with the Governor’s report, including the outgoing head of the DOC, Secretary Dan Pacholke (who is not implicated in the early release scandal).

We also heard how the top management style of Governor Inslee’s first nominee for Secretary of the Department of Corrections, Bernie Warner, decimated the IT department within the DOC and created the environment in which this terrible breach of public safety could occur. Since our hearings, the governor has been publicly modifying his initial report’s assessment.

When the Senate investigation concludes, we will provide the public with a full accounting of what led to this fiasco.